Useful Acronyms

Mapenzi mabaya

We hummed, sang, and whistled “Bad Romance” all weekend: a friend of Jess’s (well, a friend of all of ours, but particularly of Jess’s) came to visit, and brought with her a “Popular in America” mix. I’ve really grown to like pop, American and otherwise, while I’ve been here. Not sure why.

I caught the minibus to Bulongwa on Thursday, keeping our guest company, and we had a wonderful weekend. Good food, as always; slightly belated green beer (for the others) and green milk-and-Kaluha (for me); general merriment. She was the first real PCV guest we’ve had here, the only others being the folks who spent the night here before we hiked down to Matema last summer. Everyone who makes the trek out here says that they now completely understand why we don’t leave much: the beauty of the environment (and the agreeability of the company) and the price, duration, and scariness of the journey combine to keep us in Makete most of the time.

Coming home, I got a ride from the local teachers’ union representative, a guy who speaks great English. I was enjoying talking to him until he turned the conversation to immigration policies for foreigners who marry Americans, my marital status, and American polygamy laws. There’s a reason all my Tanzanian friends are women. To retaliate, I asked him questions about his wife and his six children (the oldest of whom is my age) and tried to stay absorbed in the gorgeous, sunset-lit landscape. As we drove into town, all the buildings were glowing.

I’m there with you on pop! More Hindi pop than American, but it’s all growing on me.

I was just talking with an American friend today about how hard it is for us to make friends with Nepali women – basically all my Nepali friends are men. Once we get past the part where I’m not going to marry them we can be friends, while I just find it impossible to make friends with Nepali women, I think largely because they’re too busy to make new friends.